Pneumatic conveyer



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atto/MW- Patented Jan. 28, 1930 PNEUMATIG coNvEYnn Application led September 4I 1928. Serial No. 303,896.

The present invention relates to improvements in pneumatic conveyers, and refersy l more particularly to the feeding of cottonf seed, cottonseed-hulls, grain or other com- 5 modities to a current of air, whereby to load and unload such material.

An object of the invention is to provide a device of this character which will load tlw material more quickly and less expensively than present methods, and wherein the action is entirely automatic.

Another object of the invention is to produce a pneumatic conveyer of extremely simple construction in which the use of a worm or mechanical conveyer, heretofore found necessary, is dispensed with.

A further object of the invention is'to provide a pneumatic conveyer which will have a large capacity and a facility for handling and moving great quantities of the material in short space of time.

With the foregoing and other objects in View, the invention will be more fully ldescribed hereinafter, and `will be more particularly pointed out in the claims appended hereto. p

In the drawings, wherein like symbols refer to like or corresponding parts 'throughout the several views,

Figure 1 is a vertical section, with parts broken away, of an improved device constricted according to the present invention, an [t l Figure 2 is a cross section taken on the line 2-2 in Figure 1. Referring more particularly to the drawings, wherein only one embodiment of the invention is shown, 5 designates an air or fluid' pressure pipe or trunk, and 6 represents a blower connecting with one end of the trunk for forcing a current of air therethrough, as shown by the use of the arrows.

The other end of the trunk 5 is directed into a car, bin or other place where the grain or other commodity is to be loaded.

The cotton seed, grain or other material is placed in the hopper 7, as shown in Figure 1. Such hopper is preferably constructed with the vertical Wall 8 and with the opposed 50 inclined wall 9. The latter wall 9 continues downwardly in the lower wall 10 of the inclined chute 11, which opens at its lower end into the upper part of the trunk 5. VA flange 12, formed by a downward continuation of the lower wall l0 of the chute, projects into the trunk passage for divertin the air curl rent downwardly, as indicated y the arrow v13 in Figure l. v

In the upper portion of the chute is placed a flap 14, which is fulcrumedy at its upper edge, as indicated at 15. The hopperwall 8 'is continued down to provide a ledge'16 for protecting the hinge pintle l5 from becoming clogged by the material in the hopper. The hinge pintle 15 is preferably situated vertically, or substantially so, above the flange 12. The pintle extends substantially horizontally so that the flap 14 may swing in a vertical plane.

lIn operation, a strong current of air is blown through the pipe or trunk 5 from the .blower to the outlet end. The material in the hopper is fed to this stream of air in the trunk to be entrained therein and carried along to the outlet end. Considerable diiiiculty 'has been encountered heretofore in so-called pneumatic conveyers in that the Y material could not be forced into the air stream without the the use of worms or other forms of mechanical conveyers, and manually-actuated valves were required so that the action was not automatic, and the devices had to be attended by expert workmen, which involved prohibitive ex ense.

Moreover, tile back pressure in the system would get into the hopper and blow out the material. J

These difficulties are overcome by the con joint use of the flange 12 and llap 14. The flange 12 diverts the air in the upper portion of the trunk downwardly as it passes the mouth of the chute, thus tending to produce a vacuum or suction in the chute, resulting in the automatic opening of the freely-hinged flap 14. As a consequence great quantities of the material will be rapidly drawn into the 'pneumatic current in the trunk, and the devlce is possessed of a great capacity. It follows that a great bulk of the material will be maintained 1n the trunk and moved rapidly along by the air current. This bulk of material, while avoiding the wastage of air, which would move around a smaller volume of material and escape without having had the de- 5 sited effect to move the material rapidly, is attended with fluctuating back pressure of the air up into the hopper, causing the blowing of the material out of the hopper and interfering with the feed. Such back pressure,

however, is taken care of by the flap 14 which automatically closes when the pressure hacks up in the chute and cuts off communication with the hopper. As soon as normal condition are restored the flap drops automatically by gravity and the superposed weight of the material in the hopper, allowing the resumption of the feed. The feed takes place at the lower free end of the lflap 14, except under very strong currents when same will open the flap Wide, and the space behind the hinge of the flap is usually void of material, and this void space being uppermost will receive the ascending back pressure currents which acting against the flap will close it.

It is obvious that various changes and modifications may be made in the details of construction and design of the above specifically described embodiment of this invention without departing from the spirit thereof, such changes and modifications being restricted onl y the scope of the following claim.

at is claimed is In a pneumatic conveyer, a substantially horizontal trunk, a blower at one end of said trunk for blowing a current of air through the trunk, a hopper for material situated above the trunk and having a'substantially vertical forward wall and an inclined rear wall toward the blower, said hopper having a 40 chute portion provided with a rear inclined wall forming a continuation of the inclined wall of the hopper and also having a forward inclined wall meeting with the outside surface of the vertical hopper wall at a point above the lower end thereof forming a pocket between such walls, a chute extending from said chute portion of the hopper down to and into the upper portion of the trunk, said chute havin forward and rear inclined walls forming su stantial extensions ofthe similar walls of the chute portion, the rear Vinclined wall of the chute j utting into the trunk in the path of the air currents therein for deflecting the air currents downwardly at such point, and

an unweighted valve plate in said chute portion adapted to close at its free end across the rear inclined wall thereof, and a pivot pin extending across said chute section 1n sald pocket for lightly suspending the unweighted w valve plate.

TRITOS HUIOS THURMOND. 

